Chapter V 1900-1909
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CHAPTER V 1900 - 1909 HISTORY OF DKNVER WATER SYSTEM INDEX CHAPTER V 1900-1909 Item Page No, Allen's Lake (Marston Lake)- 1900 33 Antero Damr Contracts 1908-09 75 Antero and Lost Park Co. ((Incorp); 74 Antero and Lost Park Reservoir Co., Sale of 1909 76 Ashland "Avenue Pump Station 1907 32 Bear Creek and Turkey Creek "Water supply for Marston Lake 35 Capitol Hill No. 2 Reservoir 1906-07 29 Capitol Hill Pumping plant 1908 30 Carey Act 1894 1 Cheesrnan, Walter S. 4 Cheesman Dam & Reservoir (So. PJ. atte Reservoir) 5 Cheesman Dam, 1st filing, R . O. W. araa decree - type 8-10 City Ditch 65 Conduit No. 4, relocation 33 Conduit No. 5, reconstruction of 1908 31 Conduit No. 3, 1899-1911 26 Cripple Creek Gold 1 Domestic Water Supply 58-60 English Company 72-73 / y Harriman Ditch Company 1892 35-37 2. Item Page No, High Line Canal, Construction of 1879 lii-11 Hydro-electric system 1907 (Central Power Co.) 2 Marston Lake (Allen's Lake) 1900 33 Moffat Road, Construction of 1903 2} Platte Canyon Reservoir 18-19 Platte Canyon Elite r Beds 21 Flatte Land Coinpany, limited 78 ''•'"Soda Lake Reservoir 1893 38 Soda Lakes Reservoir & Mineral Water Co. 39 Stand Pipe, University Park 27 . It — XJncompaghre Project 1904 2 Water Rates, "Leaflet" 55 Water rates, protested 1905 67 West Side Pumping ^Station 33 CHAPTER V ^^ •_) 1900 - 1909 Reclamation Act-Platte Canyon Reservoir-Slow Sand Filters-Conduit No. 3-Stand pipe-Capitol Hill No. 2 and Pumping Plant-Ashland Ave. Pumping Plant-West Side Station-Conduit No. 4-Marston Lake-Bear Creek Supply-Harriman & Soda Lakes-$4, 750, 000 Bond Issue Voided- Water Rate Litigatioi -Board of Appraisers Appointed, Water Plant Valued at $14, 400, 000-Water Right Controversies-Gheesman Dam Completed-Decree Obtained-City Ditch Ra:tes and Rights-High Line Litigation-Antero Reservoir-East Denver Municipal Irrigation District. The first decade of the twentieth century was in the main, a good one economically for the people of Colorado. Cripple Creek gold began to take the place of the once active silver mines, with agriculture assuming an increasingly important role inthe general economy of the State. The sugar beet industry grew rapidly, proving to be a great boon to the farmer, the farm laborer and the invest or in plants built to process that highly profitable irrigated root crop. Federal legislature designed to encourage the conservation of, and the distribution of water to, the dry lands of the several western states had much to do with placing Colorado, beginning with the year 1899, first of all the States in the area of irrigated land receiving its entire water supply from streams , The passage ofthe Carey Act in 1894 by the Congress, which encouraged the States to cause public lands to be irrigated, reclaimed and occupied was part of the motivaticn behind the "District Irrigation Law" passed by the Colorado General Assembly in 1901, and was likewise partly responsible for President Theodore Roosevelt's vigorous support of a national reclamation program that brought about the passage of the "Reclamation Act!' of 1902. I - The Unconnpaghre project located onthe Gunnison River in western Colorado, was the first reclamation project authorized for construction under the above act in this state, and the third one in all of the west, with the original contract for the tunnel itself awarded on March 23, 1904 or only 7 months after contracts had been executed on the Truckee-Carson Project of Nevada, which was the first of all such projects authorized. The Engineer primarily responsible for the Uncompaghre project f was A. Lincoln Fellows, who, as a member of the Public Utilities Commission of the City and County of Denver created in 1910, later took a leading role in the early struggle for public ownership of the Denver Water System. Two of the many noteworthy developments by private capital during this era, exclusive of projects constructed in connection with the present Denver Water System, of particular interest to the people of Denver were, one: the start in 1903 of construction on the "Moffat Road" and two: the hydro-electric system begun in 1907 by the Central Colorado Power Company for the purpose of generating electric power from the waters of the Colorado River at Shoshone near Glenwood Springs and of Middle Boulder Creek, west of Boulder, with high voltage transmission lines to carry large blocks of electrical energy from these power plants to Denver and other load centers about the State. Although the proportionate increase in population for the decade 1879-1880 was greater, the net increase of over 259, 000 people from 1900 to 1910, was with the exception of the population explosion in the 1950-1860 decade, the greatest in the history of the State. For Denver, the figures were even more impressive, with its growth of 85, 522 during this period, exceeding that of the 1950-1960 decade by over 8, 000 people. Prior to the beginning of the twentieth century, and occasibna-Uy/ thereafter, one of the principal reasons given for the slow industrial progress in Colorado was the lack of outside capital needed to properly finance the development of the states rich endowment of mineral and other natural resources. There is reason to believe that the "free silver" issue ofthe ninety's, with the support given by Colorado's leaders of the time to free coinage, had a strong adverse effect upon eastern financial interests which took many years to overcome. In commenting on this sitiiation, Hafen in Volume II of "Colorado and Its People", page 288 says: "The failure of eastern capitalists who had investedlheavily in Colorado silver mines and their representatives in Colorado to join the Populist and Democratic leaders 'and the people of Colorado in the agitation for the increased use of silver can be explained on either of two possibilities, neither of which have been sufficiently explored by the historian. The first is that the profits from the silver industry derived more largely from the organizational and promotional period, that is, from the sale and re-sale of stock in mining companies, than fronn the operational aspects of the industry. The second is that silver mining and smelting had not kept pace with other industries in technological developments, thus causing it to fall behind its competitors so far as profitable operation was concerned. 3. ^ // "It may well be that the silver mining industry of Colorado WD uld have been eclipsed during the decade of the I890's even if the white metal had been fully utilized in the monetary structure of the nation. " With eastern capital again becoming available about the beginning of this period, the industrial activity within the state was reflected in a marked increase in the wealth and industrial future of its capitol city, which ten years later had not only retained its position as the center of the mining industry, but had become the center of a rich irrigated area, surrounded by a vast amount of coal deposits and with what seemed to be at that time, later proven to be fallacious, a vast amount of hydro-electric power available for the development of unlimited commercial opportunities. As a heavy investor in Denver Real Estate and with'-othe/r.smbs'.tantial business interests within the state, Walter S. Cheesman, President of The Denver Union Water Company had an enduring faith in the futiure ofDenver and Colorado, which never faltered, even during the dark days of the 1893 panic. His successful effort to enlarge and improve the water system of Denver against formidable odds during those early days is ample proof of his steadfast convictions in this regard. Beginning with the consolidation in 1894 and continuing until his d eath on May 31, 1907, his time and energy were largely devoted to this work, with the Cheesman Dam, completed on August 26, 1904, standing as a permanent monument to his memory as a man of ability, integrity, courage 4. fl.b^' and determination, who, with a few close associates, saw to it that the water system remained in control ofDenver people up to the time it was sold to the city in 1918. CHEESMAN DAM AND RESERVOIR (The South Platte Reservoir) The first filing made for the "South Platte Reservoir" with the United States Land Office at Denver, for necessary rights-of-way, was dated October 8, 1894. The area of the reservoir on this filing was given as 737 acres, with an estimated storage capacity of 69, 005 acre feet. Approval for a five year construction period was given by the Secretary of the Interior from the date^ of his signature on August 19, 1895. Although, due diligence had been exercised, it became apparent early in 1900 that the dam would be at less than one half its design height at the time the permit was due to expire on August 19, 1900. Hence, on April 12, 1900 a duplicate filing of the original map was made with the land office, with a request for an extension of five years time within which to complete the project. This request was approved by the Secretary of the Interior on July 3, 1900, with c ompletionoof the darn realized about 10 months before the end of the extended time limit then authorized. Documents filed with the State Engineer relating to appropriations of water frcem the South Platte River in District No. 23 for this project include: 5. 5"7/. No. 24: Citizens Wate r Company, David H. Moffat, President, dated December 27, 1889, covering a feeder pipe line, taking water from both the North and South Forks of the river and carrying it some 18 miles to a reservoir, to be located on portions of sections l6 and 21, Township 6 South, Range 69 West of the Sixth Principal Meridian (The Strong Reservoir site).